KUALA SELANGOR, Sept 12 ― Maszlee Malik said today that he will discuss the proposal by the Penang mufti to include facts about Shiah Muslims in the Islamic education subject in schools, to counter demonisation against the Muslim denomination.

"That, we will discuss with the Penang mufti,” Maszlee said, when met after a townhall session with undergraduates from the Mara Technological Institute University (UiTM) here.

Penang Mufti Datuk Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor was quoted making the suggestion, pointing out that education is key to solving what he termed as "Shiah-phobia”, and to be more tolerating towards the community.

In Malaysia, only the Sunni denomination of Islam and its Shafie school of jurisprudence are considered official by Putrajaya.

Shiah is Islam’s second-largest denomination and practised by an estimated 15 per cent of the 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, but is regarded as deviant here.

This comes as a Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) representative said that the definition of Islam according to the Federal Constitution should be left broad and not confined to any one interpretation for the sake of a peaceful co-existence.

Last week, Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) arrested 23 people at a Shiah centre.

Twenty-five Jais officers were present and brought the detainees, including four boys aged 13 to 17, to the Islamic complex at Gombak where they were informed they are being investigated for contravening the fatwa on Shiah teachings.